Co-founder Mauricio Di Bartolomeo said investment-grade securitized bitcoin loans could draw institutional capital after Ledn’s bond was rated by S&P Global and ended up three times oversubscribed.
Ledn co-founder Mauricio Di Bartolomeo said the bitcoin-backed lending market could expand to $1 trillion over the next five to 10 years if lenders can package loans into investment-grade bonds that institutions are allowed to buy. He argued that no single balance sheet can supply the liquidity for a market of that size, and pointed instead to securitization (pooling loans into tradable bonds) as the model, similar to how roughly 60% to 70% of mortgages and about 25% of auto loans are sold in bond form. Ledn, which issued Canada’s first bitcoin-backed loan in 2018, said it now represents roughly 30% of the global market and originated $1.4 billion in loans during 2025. Di Bartolomeo said Ledn recently issued a bond using Fidelity as custodian and Jefferies as bookrunner, which he described as the first bitcoin debt instrument rated by S&P Global with an investment-grade rating. He said the bond was marketed in February during a bitcoin correction, posted zero loan defaults through the drawdown, and ultimately ended up three times oversubscribed. The pitch comes as crypto lending still carries the stigma of the 2022 collapse of centralized lenders including Celsius, BlockFi, Voyager Digital and Genesis. Di Bartolomeo said broader access to institutional funding could help the sector price risk more efficiently and lower borrowing costs over time.